11-year-old forced to marry her rapist after falling pregnant

She says she was pushed into marrying the man 9 years her senior.
- bythat's life!

29 May
2017

While some girls have always dreamt about their wedding day, Sherry Johnson says she was forced into marriage before she even knew what it was.

Just 11 at the time, the Florida girl was allegedly forced to marry a 20-year-old from her Pentecostal church.

The wedding was seen as necessary after Sherry said she was raped by the churchgoer—and had fallen pregnant with his child. Her family and church saw marriage as the best way to avoid a criminal trial,The New York Timesreports.

"My mom asked me if I wanted to get married, and I said, ‘I don’t know, what is marriage, how do I act like a wife?’” Sherry told the publication.

The child bride, now an adult, said she lead a “terrible life”. Over the course of her marriage, she reared nine children, all the while feeling abandoned by her husband.

Her marriage to the man from her church was approved by a judge who told her: “What we want is for you to get married.”

"They took the handcuffs from handcuffing him to handcuffing me, by marrying me without me knowing what I was doing," she explained.